Jump to content

Graphics help


panewswatcher69

Recommended Posts

Moderators: I'm not sure if this is the proper sub forum to post this, please feel free to move to appropriate forum.

 

In this age of hd, does one need to have the hd feed of a tv station in order to properly view that particular station?

 

Few examples: back when the Pittsburgh Penguins were in the Stanley Cup Final this year, WJAC Channel 6 Johnstown regular feed did not fit in my screen but when I switched over to their hd feed, everything was fine - same goes for their newscasts.

 

Also, today when KDKA Channel 2 Pittsburgh went to their new graphics package, the graphics are not fitting into the screen with the left and right sides being cut off, the two box shot of the anchor in studio and the in the field reporter are cut off, and the weather personality is not completely in the shot either. I do not have the hd feed of KDKA.

 

I've checked all of my TV's settings and everything appears correct. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When you say you were switching between the two feeds, this suggests to me that you aren't receiving the signal over the air, but instead via something like cable or satellite.

 

What I'm guessing is that whomever you are getting your TV signal from is receiving the widescreen broadcast from the station and simply 'center cutting' - chopping off the left and right edges - and reducing the resolution to turn it into an standard-definition, 4:3, signal.

 

Said cable/satellite/etc. provider has a choice when it comes to converting a widescreen (HD) broadcast into a standard definition 4:3 signal:

1) Use "Active Format Description," if the TV station is using it. AFD automatically adjusts the aspect ratio, so that when the station is broadcasting something that uses the full 16:9, it tells the receiving end to switch to letterbox; when it is something that only uses the 4:3 safe zone, it allows the receiving end to do a center-cut, allowing the picture to fill the screen. AFD is something the TV station would have to be doing, and they may have decided it isn't worth the time and money to invest in AFD equipment.

2) Letterbox everything. This makes sure that the viewers at home can see everything - but then they might get complaints from (primarily older) people who have old standard def TVs who complain that "it isn't filling my screen!!!"

3) Center-cut everything. The aforementioned people are happy, because the picture fills their old 4:3 standard definition TV... and they generally don't notice that there is all sorts of stuff that they aren't seeing because it's being chopped off. Everyone else is annoyed because they DO notice that.

 

In the end, what's going to happen pretty much everywhere at some point is the cable/satellite/etc. providers of the world will just drop the downconverted version of the channel. Everyone will get the widescreen version of the channel, and those who have old TVs can use the aspect ratio button on their remotes/cable boxes to do the letterboxing or center-cutting (or, unfortunately, "zoom" - the worst of all worlds) on their own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It depends on how you're getting the signal. Over the air, Dish, DirecTV and U-verse; all of them seem to respect the AFD standard and carry the signal in 16:9 letterbox as intended. There are still those few odd stations that carry a needless duplicated 'SD' version of their signal over a subchannel, but those are thankfully declining.

 

Cable is more of a 'depends on the provider'. In most cases they should respect the broadcaster's wishes. But my Charter system carries all of their local over-the-air signals in 4:3 in SD, even though most of the stations have become 16:9 exclusive. Mainly it's to satisfy those still with analog sets who think letterboxing is 'losing 1/3 of the picture' and prefer the screen be filled up; I don't know how many times a station has converted to widescreen and it's fine for a week on the analog side, but inevitably someone calls in to complain and someone at the headend frames that station to 4:3 against the station's wishes.

 

But this is really only an issue with four out-of-market stations where I am on a digital-only system since Charter basically downgrades the HD signal for most of their cable networks; Charter's boxes really push the 'tune to HD only' setting (so the SD channel 6 for instance tunes to 606 in HD but still shows as 6) so outside of those households carrying old equipment, most viewers already just are watching the HD signal on an analog set and don't know it/don't know how to change the setting. The only time I even do any form of SD recording any longer is Me-TV (which is widescreen) and an occasional show on the SD channel where the disk space on the DVR is running low.

 

Believe it or not, some stations fully show the 16:9 format without letterboxing on pay-TV like on WOIO in Cleveland. My gripe is that the picture looks squished on 4:3 sets like my friend's TV in Akron.

 

WDJT in Milwaukee also frames that way; that seems to be something exclusive to CBS affiliates in just using the 'fill screen' option no matter the frame presentation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WDJT in Milwaukee also frames that way; that seems to be something exclusive to CBS affiliates in just using the 'fill screen' option no matter the frame presentation.

 

Do not have that issue with WJZ here. But all their content is center cut.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using TVNewsTalk you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.